Leila Dewji blog posts

Last year, the team at I_AM Self-Publishing created our first ever author goals worksheet,
which we shared right here on www.writersandartists.co.uk, and it was the most
popular piece of content we have ever created. This year, we have gone back to
the drawing board, read up on the advice from top goal achievers and successful
entrepreneurs, and put together a new 30-page guide and workbook – Author
Goals: Your guide to achieving more –which you can download here.

“Setting goals is the first step
in turning the invisible into the visible.” - Tony Robbins, bestselling author & entrepreneur

Why bestselling
authors set goals

Writing, publishing and marketing a book well takes time and
effort. The authors I know are busy people who often juggle this with their other
work, as well as family and general life commitments. Also, as creatives,
authors can sometimes have lots of ideas that pull them in lots of different
directions, but struggle to …

Author Ruth Livingstone, knows a thing or two about time management and productivity, which is something all authors struggle with. In fact, she has successfully completed NaNoWriMo five times! She has just published Walking The English Coast, which started life as a NaNoWriMo
project and shares her top tips here.

1. Get a notebook

Label it with the name of your story, and keep it beside your keyboard. You’re going to need it.

2. Do any research you need in advance

In your notebook, write down notes on characters and locations, and, most importantly, write down a basic outline of your story. It’s a good idea to really get to know your characters …

Spring is traditionally a time for refreshing, clearing out and cleaning up. What better time to give your manuscript a quick spruce by using some of these top self-editing tools...

Why Self-Edit?

All authors who want to improve their work should self-edit before starting work with a professional editor. This way, the manuscript will get into good shape very quickly, and the editor can be brought in after the basic errors are addressed - the type that you'd be the first to spot in someone else's work, but missed yourself because you've become so close to your work.

Top 3 Self-Editing Tools

These tools will help you to see your work afresh and clean up your manuscript in no time.

1. Word Frequency Counter & Phrase Frequency Counter (Free)

Most authors have a preference/dependence on certain words or phrases without realising it. In my work as an editor at I_AM Self-Publishing, I often find that particular words or phrases are repeated over and over throughout a …

Building writing prompts into your writing routine will make
you a better writer. Not only will writing prompts get the creative juices
flowing, but they can also help you warm-up for a productive writing session
and even enable you to develop a wider writing skill-set. It can be easy to get
stuck in a rut or stick to what you know, but writing prompts are all about
chucking you out of your comfort zone and getting you thinking and writing very
quickly.

Goal setting can seem like an extra and optional job when you're busy overcoming the back-to-work blues, but it is an important exercise if you want to get the most out of 2016. The fact is that most people talk themselves out of goal setting. Either they are afraid of writing something down and then failing to achieve it or they don't know how to set proper goals in the first place. But those who do set goals are more successful. So whatever stage of the writing/publication process you are at - whether you want to finish your first draft this year, whether you want to get published this year or perhaps you are already published but want to grow your online presence - having a clear, structured goal will help you succeed in 2016.

Goal Setting Will Make You Achieve More

There is a famous study in What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School in which graduates were surveyed upon graduation and ten years afterwards; the few graduates who had set clear written goals …